Our Family

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

We are so proud of Avri. She has come so far academically in the past year that I have just watched in amazement. She has really blossomed as both a reader and a writer. She has turned into the child who reads the cereal box, the road signs, my text messages, and anything else she can get her hands on. It is awesome. She also LOVES to write and her spellings are still quite inventive, but getting better all the time. A few days ago she decided to write a letter to Aunt Allison. So she did. I didn't help her at all. In fact, I didn't know that she was doing it until she was all done. Allison got the letter and put a post about it on her blog. So I thought I would link to it here. I think she has rather good handwriting and pretty good spelling for someone who is barely 6 years old!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I am finally getting around to posting about July. That only makes me only about 2-3 months behind, right? Oh well.

My brother Ammon and his wife Allison were planning on coming to Illinois for a vacation and also to interview for a job with Caterpillar. They told us that they would be getting here on July 5th, so they were going to miss Avri's birthday on the 4th. We were really sad that they wouldn't make it for her birthday. But on Sunday the 3rd, we got home from church and had a scavenger hunt in our front yard which led us to the back yard where our prize was Ammon and Allison!! (And some Pop Rocks that they brought for us!) We were so excited that they surprised us and got here early. The house was a huge mess because of the birthday party the day before and we were remodeling and painting the master bedroom (which turns the entire house into a disorganized mess). But they didn't seem to mind too much. Here is Sadie with her buddy Allison.For the 4th of July we celebrated Avri's birthday all day. We started in the morning with breakfast at my parents house, cooked on our brand new fire grill - designed and made by Ammon!! Here he is showing us how it works.It was really smoky, but here is part of the grill. It has a large cooking surface, but also has a grill and a rotisserie that are attachments. We are excited to do a lot more cooking on it and get really good at using it.The kids kept themselves entertained which breakfast was cooking.Then Avri opened her birthday presents. Accessories for her dollhouse...And lots of new hair things, headbands, and a cute hat.Rigdon got to know Ammon and Allison really well over the next couple of weeks. The last time we had seen these two was for their wedding when Rigdon was only 2 weeks old!!Who doesn't love Christmas paper in July?That night we went to a bbq party in Elmwood with a bunch of friends. They lit some fireworks,and smoke bombsand my parents brought glowsticks while we waited for the fireworks to start.Avri just loves her holiday birthday, and I'm so glad. We love her so much and are so happy that she is such a unique and special part of our family. And we were really glad that Ammon and Allison were able to be there for her day!

We have officially ended the hair growth experiment. Kendall has always wondered how long his hair would grow in one year. So here was the experiment. His only stipulation (or mine) was that if he had a job interview that he needed to look nice for he would end early. He has had half a dozen interviews lately, hence the early finish. Here are the results!

January 1st (for the kids' reactions see my post here.)February 1stMarch 1stApril 1st - April was a nice month. ;)May 1stJune 1stJuly 1stIt's even long enough for him to wear Avri's new pretty headbands. Now THAT takes a very secure man.For some reason we missed taking a picture in August, so we have...

Sept 1stSorry, these pictures are all terrible because the lighting in our living room is awful at night. I kept teasing him about having a mid-life crisis and trying to imitate Justin Beiber.So we had a little fun playing with it before we cut it all off. He was sad that he couldn't be Wolverine for Halloween.MacGyver anyone? Wow. So glad he hasn't ever had a mullet.I learned that I have no idea how to cut a Mohawk. I'm hopeless.And a very nice little pony tail.Now THAT is a haircut!I found my husband again. Isn't he so handsome? I sure love this man.We learned this his hair really does grow about 1/2 inch every month - which is supposed to be average for most people. It doesn't really speed up or slow down, just plods right along. And I will be happy if he doesn't do that again for a very long time.

**I just noticed in this last picture where Rigdon gets his eyes!! I think they look exactly like Kendall's!